Taiwan International Children’s Film Festival (TICFF) is a biennial event founded by Public Television Service (PTS) in 2004. It is the first film and television festival in Asia dedicated entirely to children aged 12 and under.

The 9th edition of TICFF is scheduled for April 2020 in Taipei. We are calling for entries for the international competition section with a total cash prize of US$25,000 for extraordinary productions of dramas, animations and TV/Web programs.

We also welcome submissions to our non-competition section, including documentaries and "Kids as Directors " productions.

A. ELIGIBILITY

1. Content must be suitable for children at the age of 4-12.
2. Productions must be completed between September 1, 2017 and September 6, 2019 (submission deadline).
   ※PRODUCTIONS NOT COMPLETED BY THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED FOR COMPETITION.
3. Categories

   	Categories	Duration	Note
   Competition	Dramatic Short	5-40 min
   	Dramatic Feature	40 min or longer
   	Animated Short	1-40 min
   	Animated Feature	40 min or longer
   	TV/Web Program	1-60 min	Productions presented in a series of episodes. Please select only ONE episode per series to submit.
   Non-Competition	Documentary	10-100 min
   	"Kids as Directors" Productions	1-30 min	Productions directed and made by children between 6 to 14 years old.
   ※ No competition event nor prizes for Non-Competition section. Submissions of documentaries and "Kids as Directors" productions will be considered as candidates for the Official Selection.

B. SUBMISSION PERIOD: May 6-Sep. 6, 2019

All submission materials must arrive no later than the deadline, September 6, 2019.

C. SUBMISSIONS

Submissions can be made via:

1. FilmFreeway (Highly Recommended) –

   Complete the registration procedure for your film/episode on the platform, submit your work to https://filmfreeway.com/TICFF and make the payment to finalize the submission.

2. TICFF’s Online Submission platform –will close at 00:00 a.m. Taipei Time (GMT+8), Sep. 7th, 2019.

Please fill out the online entry form on http://www.ticff.org.tw After completing the online entry form and payment, you will receive a confirmation e-mail sent by the system. Please follow the instructions to complete your submission. (If you choose "Upload via WeTransfer" to deliver your screener(s), please follow the uploading instructions in the email.  The submission is complete only after you receive an upload confirmation e-mail sent by WeTransfer.)

Only ONE entry/category for each production. Please choose the one category most appropriate if the production is eligible for two categories or more. Entries selecting inappropriate category will be disqualified without further notice.

Notes for screener:

• Content of the screener has to be its final cut for festival screening.
• File Format: .mov / .mp4 / .m4v, stereo audio
• Codec: h.264
• Frame Size: SD - 640x480 or 720x480 and HD - 1920x1080 or 1280x720
  ※In order to ensure film quality for judging, avoid time codes, watermarks, or anything else that may affect the viewing quality.
• DO NOT segment the file. For video file exceeds 2G, please upload via other means (extra payment might incur during the process).
• Subtitles: Productions in English or Mandarin Chinese do NOT require an English or Chinese subtitled screener. However, productions in all other languages MUST provide a screener with English subtitles.

D. DEADLINES AND FEES

※ Taiwan International Children's Film Festival is granted the right to screen the nominated productions (1-3 times during the festival) free of charge and use photo stills, trailer and video excerpts of this film/episode for publicity and promotional use (limited to 10% and up to 3 minutes), across all media and platforms.

E. CATEGORIES & PRIZES

1. Best Dramatic Short
2. Best Dramatic Feature
3. Best Animated Short
4. Best Animated Feature
5. Best TV/Web Program
6. Special Jury Award
7. Taiwan Award
8. Audience Award

Categories 1-7: A cash prize of US$3,500 and a trophy. In the event of a tie, the cash prize will be divided equally between the two winners.

Category 8: A trophy.

※Taiwan Award: This category is designed to showcase and reward the finest works by local filmmakers or production companies for children in Taiwan. Any locally-produced submission from categories 1-5 is eligible for the competition.

F. ANNOUNCEMENT OF FINALISTS & WINNERS

Finalists will receive notifications from the Festival Office in mid-November. Complete list of finalists will be officially announced on January 1, 2020 on the TICFF website (www.ticff.org.tw). Winners will be announced on the official website on the last day of the festival in April, 2020.

G. JUDGING PROCESS

Stage 1 – Preliminary Selections

The panel of judges, which is comprised of professionals from the fields of filmmaking, television production and education, will select up to five finalist productions for each award category to be screened during the festival.

Stage 2 – Final Selections

For final selections, the original panel of judges from the preliminary selections will be joined by a further two international judges. During the festival in April 2020, the panel will convene a meeting to decide the award winners. If nominated productions fail to reach the final selection evaluation criteria, the organizer reserves the right to retain the award. 

Productions will be judged based on the following criteria：

1. Relevance to children.
2. Effectiveness in developing children’s perspectives and global outlook.
3. Creativity of content and techniques.
4. Production skills and aesthetics.

H. SCREENING OF THE NOMINATED FILMS

1. Festival screening formats include DCP, HDCam, BluRay, and Hi-Res digital file – If you are using any other format than mentioned please contact the Festival Office.
2. For works that are nominated by the committee, a screening copy of the production in one of the above formats should be delivered to the Festival Office no later than December 15, 2019 (Sunday). Please do not send original masters. For the purpose of Chinese subtitling, please provide a no-dubbing copy with Chinese or English subtitles, and a dialogue list in Chinese or English. 
3. Participants must bear incoming shipping coasts to the Festival. TICFF will cover the expense of return shipment. Screening copies will be returned within a month following the festival. Exceptions will be made under special requests.

I. WITHDRAWL FROM NOMINATION

Once the film is nominated, the submitter shall not withdraw from the competition. If the submitter wishes to withdraw, please notify the Festival Office by January 5, 2020. A fine will be charged if otherwise, to cover the loss of the Festival.

J. POST-FESTIVAL SCREENINGS

Nominated productions may be included in TICFF screening tours following the festival, and up until December 31, 2020 as an outreach to disadvantaged ethnic and social groups who lack the means of traveling to Taipei for the event. These screenings will be made free to the public, with no revenues collected by TICFF or by its organizer. The copyright owner of the nominated production should agree upon the charity screenings mentioned above, and sign the Participation Agreement.

K. FESTIVAL OFFICE

Taiwan International Children’s Film Festival
Public Television Service Foundation
6F, 100, Lane 75, Section 3, Kang-Ning Road Taipei, Taiwan 11485
Tel: +886-2-2633-2000 #1881 #1051
Fax: +886-2-2630-1895
Email：ticff@mail.pts.org.tw；ticff.ptsoffice@gmail.com
Website: http://www.ticff.org.tw